Self-suspending box



R. H. THOMAS SELF-SUSPENDING BOX March 27, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 30, 1960 March 27, 1962 R. H. THOMAS SELF-SUSPENDING BOX 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 30, 1960 March 1962 R. H. THOMAS 3,027,064

SELF-SUSPENDING BOX Filed March 50, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ware Filed Mar. 30, 1960, Ser. No. 18,651 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-43) This invention relates to a self-suspending box of paper or the like for accessory use with retail display shelves in order to provide additional shelf space in the merchandising of small articles.

Shelf or counter space for the help-yourself type of selling such as found in many drug stores and other retail stores is overcrowded. The large number of small articles of different brands displayed on the shelves of retail stores makes it difficult to add additional articles without displacing the articles already on the shelves. The problem is made more acute in many retail stores wherein floor space is fairly well utilized so that it is difficult to install additional shelving or counter space. This lack of shelf or counter space makes it particularly difficult to have new and relatively untested articles prominently displayed.

The problems outlined above are solved and further advantages are obtained with the provision of the novel, inexpensive box construction of this invention which is also referred to herein as a shelf extender. In general, this box which is of paper or equivalent construction, is of rectangular form and provided with a cover flap having pressure sensitive features. The box which can contain small articles such as bottles containing medicines, packages of adhesive tapes, cosmetics, toilet goods, and hair preparations can be conveniently displayed to provide for help-yourself type merchandising, by attachment to a display surface such as a shelf, counter or the like without interfering with articles which are placed on the attaching shelf or on shelves below the attaching shelf.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive paper box having a cover fiap that may be easily employed in firmly attaching the box to a shelf by pressure sensitive adhesive means.

A further object of the invention is to provide a box of this type with a homogeneously attached cover or closure flap having a plurality of longitudinally foldable panels, including a panel having pressure sensitive adhesive means, wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive means are disposed downwardly or inwardly, i.e., the same surface of the paper as the inside of the back portion of the box, for attachment to a shelf. This arrangement of the adhesive strip does not interfere with the printed surface containing advertising matter or instructions; also, the pressure sensitive adhesive holds on to the box much better by being applied to the inside of the flap since as is conventional with many paper boxes, the outside or exposed surfaces thereof are coated to improve the appearance of the box whereas the paper in the inner part of the box is uncoated and provides a better surface for the adhesive; still another integral panel on the cover flap beyond the pressure sensitive adhesive carrying panel can give support to the back portion of the box both for preventing the box from tilting on counters whose thickness is not equal to or greater than that of the back wall of the box and also to assist certain types of box construction in holding together.

Additional objects of the invention are to provide a box of this kind with a readily detachable masking strip on the exposed pressure sensitive adhesive so that the box may be conveniently handled as an article of manufacture which can act as an extender of the shelf space without interfering with the articles displayed on the shelf to which it is attached nor obstructing the view of articles 3,027,064 Patented Mar. 27, 1952 2 displayed on lower shelves and which can be used for shipping articles.

These and other features of the invention contributing satisfaction in use, economy in manufacture and adaptability 'to various conditions will be more fully understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein identical numerals refer to identical parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of the box prior to attachment of the rear side wall extension flaps;

FIG. 2 is a top and side perspective view of the box with the closure flap in partly folded position to define cover flap panels;

FIG. 3 is a top and side perspective view showing the box with the cover flap partly folded to define the first cover flap panel and to place the adhesive means carrying panel in registration therewith, with the masking strip partly removed;

FIG. 4 is a side and top perspective view of the box mounted on a shelf;

FIG. 5 is a plan view to reduced scale of a one-piece box blank that may be used in forming the box of FIGS. 14.

The embodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 comprises a generally rectangular box 10, of relatively light and flexible paper material or the equivalent. The rectangular box 10 which for the present purpose is elongated and relatively shallow has a bottom 12, a front 14, a back 16, opposed sides or ends 18, 18, rear side flap extensions 20, 20 which form continuations of the sides or ends and are adapted to be secured together in back of the box by partly slit sections 46, 46. The opposed sides also have forward side flap extensions, 38, 38 which are adapted to be secured between the infolded front 14. An integral closure flap 24, forms a continuation of the top edge of the back wall 16 and is of sufficient width to provide, in addition to complete closure, a free foldable marginal panel 26, adapted to be inwardly folded against the front wall 14 when the box is closed. Panel 26 can also assist in giving structural stability to the box when mounted on a shelf 8 so as to prevent tilting and also to assist in securing the rear side fiapextensions 20, 2%. In addition to panel 25, the cover flap, 24, has two additional panels which are dimensioned so as to register with each other when folded; one of said panels 52 is adjacent to the back 16 whereas the other panel 32 carries the pressure sensitive adhesive means 34 and the masking strip 36.

The blank, as shown in FIG. 5, may be formed of any suitable sheet material such as cardboard, metal foil, stiffened fabric, treated papers and the like. The pres sure sensitive adhesive means 34 can be that of a tape (as shown in FIG. 1) having pressure sensitive adhesive means on both sides and which has been secured to the panel 32 or the pressure sensitive adhesive can be applied directly to the panel 32. The masking strip 36 is preferably made somewhat longer than the pressure sensitive adhesive means 34 so that a projecting end of the masking strip may be conveniently grasped for tearing the same away from the adhesive layer. The masking strip 36 may be made of holland cloth, glassine, parchment paper and the like which will adhere to the adhesive coating, but will readily peel therefrom.

The shelf extender of this invention can be sturdily mounted and can easily support up to about 5.5 pounds of articles when the box is one such as described in FIGS. 1-5 wherein the box has internal dimensions of 10 inches between the sides (width); 4 inches between the front and back (length) and wherein the front is 1.5 inches high and the back is about 2.75 inches high. In a box of aomgoaa.

those dimensions the adhesive containing panel is about 1.75 inches long and about 9.75 inches wide with a substantial area of the inside surface of the panel 32 covered with the pressure sensitive adhesive means 34. It is preferable that the paper be about 0.03 of an inch in thickness when it possesses the above mentioned dimensions. Of course, the shelf extender can be larger or smaller in its various dimensions from those specifically mentioned herein. The fact that the pressure sensitive adhesive is on the inside of the cover flap permits greater weights to be supported by the box than if the pressure sensitive adhesive were on the outside of the cover flap. The pressure sensitive adhesive means can be operable over a wide temperature range such as down to freezing and up to about 150 F. Other blanks than that which is shown in FIG. can also be used in this invention provided that they employ a cover flap such as that shown by numeral 24.

The blank as shown by FIG. 5 is assembled by bending upwardly the scoring surrounding all sides of the bottom 12, namely, foldable score line 64 between the front and bottom, foldable score lines 66, 66 between the sides and bottom and foldable score line 68 between the back and bottom of the box. The forward side extension flaps 38 of sides 18, 18 are bent inwardly, the panel 58 of front 14 is bent inwardly and downwardly at the scored line 60 and the front free margin 40 is bent upwardly at the scored line 62 and secured by tongue 42. The scored line 62 is preferably an intermittently perforated or die score line. The rear side flap extensions 20, 20 are bent inwardly behind the back 16 on the foldable score lines 44, 44 and attached together by the cooperating cut slits 46, 46 at which stage of assembly the box is fully assembled, as shown in FIG. 1.

To attach the shelf extender box to a shelf or counter the marginal cover flap panel 26 and the panel 32 carrying the pressure sensitive adhesive means 34 are bent outwardly and downwardly against the back 16 as shown in FIG. 3. This is facilitated by the score line 30 which is preferably intermittently perforated between panels 52 and 32. The adhesive means carrying panel 32 and the panel 52 adjacent to the back are then bent downwardly and outwardly at about a 90 angle from the back 16 on the foldable scored line 48 immediately above the back and the foldable scored line 50 beyond the adhesive strip panel as shown in FIG. 4. The foldable scored lines 48 and 50 register with each other since the length of the first cover flap panel 52 is equal to the length of the adhesive carrying cover flap panel 32. The masking strip 36 is then removed from the pressure sensitive adhesive means 34 and the shelf extender box 10 is ready for attachment to the shelf 8. The attachment to the shelf is preferably accomplished by first lining up in adjacent relationship the top of the marginal cover flap panel 26 with the top of the shelf 8, as in FIG. 4 and then bending outwardly and downwardly the panels 32 and 52, after the masking strip 36 has been removed, and subsequently applying pressure with the hand to the first cover flap panel 52 to attach the box asshown in FIG. 4.

What is claimed is:

In a self-suspending box comprising a rectangular paper box having a bottom, back, front, and opposed side walls, a cover flap, said cover flap being homogeneously integral with the top of said back, the improvement which comprises having a first longitudinal foldable scoring line between the back and cover flap for the outward folding of said cover flap, said cover flap having homogeneously integral first, middle and marginal panels, said panels being defined by said first longitudinal foldable scoring line and by two additional longitudinal foldable scoring lines on said cover flap, wherein the scoring line between the middle and marginal panel registers with the scoring line between the box back and cover flap upon out-anddown folding of the scoring line between the first and middle panel, the width of the first panel and the width of the middle panel being equal to each other and the total width of both being sutficient to provide a cover for said box, the said marginal panel having a width about equal to that of the height of the box back and adapted to be infolded within the box against the front, said middle panel having pressure sensitive adhesive means on its inside surface, said pressure sensitive adhesive means being substantially coextensive with said middle panel and a masking strip over the said pressure sensitive adhesive means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,078,018 Powell Apr. 20, 1937 2,191,704 Bennett Feb. 27, 1940 2,755,576 Golden July 24, 1956 2,770,411 MacKay Nov. 13, 1956 2,859,907 McFarland Nov. 11, 1958 

